Victim believes robberies in Elkhart may be connected

He said man who tried to rob him Monday was same one who robbed him Christmas Eve.

He said man who tried to rob him Monday was same one who robbed him Christmas Eve.

January 04, 2006|YONIKA WILLIS Tribune Staff Writer

ELKHART -- Low Bob's Discount Tobacco employee Justin Snodgrass said he told police Monday he'd "do backflips" if they found that the suspect who was shot while trying to rob Media Madhouse minutes after attempting to rob Low Bob's was the same person. Although police are still investigating both robberies, Snodgrass said police told him Monday the two may be related. Twenty-year-old Snodgrass said he and his pregnant boss were in the office of the business at 1501 S. Nappanee St. Monday when his boss noticed the suspect in the store about 12:23 p.m. "He came in and looked down and put a gun in my face," Snodgrass said. "I slammed the door ... locked (himself and his boss) in the office, and then he took off." Nothing was taken during Monday's try, but Snodgrass said the attempt wasn't the first encounter he's had with the suspect. "I got robbed by the same guy (at the Low Bob's) on Bristol Street on Christmas Eve," he said. "The first (robbery), he was mad at me because I gave him all the money, and he asked for two packs of cigarettes and I asked him if he wanted boxes or soft packs." But when Snodgrass saw the suspect again on Monday, he said, "I was just like, 'You gotta be kidding me.' "The suspect, Snodgrass said, did the exact same thing and wore the same clothing both times. "He's not all that tall," Snodgrass recalled. "He was white. He was a scrawny kid and wore the same clothes the second time as the first time -- black pants, black hoodie with some writing on it, a blue bandanna around his face with a white ball cap. So all you could see was the bill of his hat. "He had the same gun with a small barrel," Snodgrass recalled. "It had to have been a semiautomatic. ... He was a teenager in his late teens." Snodgrass said he believes the suspect could also be connected to a Dec. 30 robbery of the Low Bob's on Johnson Street. Minutes after Snodgrass' robbery encounter at 12:37 p.m. Monday, police were called six miles away to Media Madhouse, 30879 Old U.S. 20, in connection with an armed suspect who had been shot in the chest during an attempted robbery of the store. In this try, police said, an employee appearing to comply with the robber's demands shot the suspect once in the chest with a 9 mm gun. The suspect, whose name has not been released by authorities, was dropped off at Elkhart General Hospital Monday afternoon, said Trevor Wendzonka, public information spokesman for the Elkhart County Sheriff's Department. But whoever dropped him off left the hospital, Wendzonka added. Bill Wargo, chief investigator for the Elkhart County Prosecuting Attorney's office, said he spoke to the family of the suspect involved in the Media Madhouse robbery, adding that the suspect is a 19-year-old male from Elkhart County. Wendzonka said the suspect was out of surgery Tuesday at Elkhart General Hospital and was in recovery, but his condition is unknown. No arrests have been made yet, he added.Staff writer Yonika Willis: ywillis@sbtinfo.com (574) 235-6556